丝巾，权力女性新标配？

    国际货币基金组织总裁拉加德很可能会戴一条丝巾出席6月份的G8峰会——这是她的标准打扮。与此同时，这种时尚配饰也在引起越来越多的关注。BBC最近更是将丝巾列为女性的“新权力符号”。

    确实，就像许多男士选择有趣的领带来为单调的西装增添活力一样，许多受到保守商务着装约束的女性，会通过佩戴丝巾为自己增添一抹色彩，以彰显独特魅力。

    但这一风尚并非最近才兴起的。回顾一下19世纪和20世纪的丝巾史，我们会发现，丝巾的魅力和影响力一直存在。丝巾是最简单的一种饰品：它就是一块布。正因如此，丝巾成为一种风行数个世纪的万能配饰，被不同文化的女性用于不同目的。

    许多穆斯林女性为保持端庄而佩戴头巾，而某些到了一定年龄的女士则喜欢佩戴折成三角形的丝巾，以保护昂贵的或精心制作的头巾。丝巾可以具有政治意义，以表明佩戴者的社会关系或信仰。20世纪初，女权主义者经常利用服装来宣传她们的事业，白色、绿色和粉色的丝巾尤其受到她们的推崇。

    二战期间，丝巾还成为民族主义情感的载体。英国企业杰玛设计了多款带有政治宣传主题口号的丝巾。其中一款丝巾装饰上了英美两国象征的英国地图，上面印有“并肩作战”的口号。另外一款设计模仿贴有海报的墙壁，敦促国民“为保卫自由之权利而借款”，“为赢得胜利而节约”。

    但在西方文化中，丝巾最知名的用途依然是时装配饰，它最初盛行于19世纪。现在的三角形披肩就延续了18、19世纪的风格，我们可以将其视为现代丝巾的先驱。当时的女性将三角形披肩轻轻搭在胸前，通常会在前面打结，既是一种端庄的遮蔽物，也可以为服装增添一款特别精致的配饰——有时会带有蕾丝边或采用刺绣工艺。

    起源于印度，织工精细，质量轻盈的丝绸和羊绒披肩，引领了首批围巾时尚。拿破仑的第一任妻子约瑟芬皇后收藏了许多丝绸和羊绒披肩（这当然得益于她丈夫的四处征战）。在19世纪的大多数时间内，披肩一直非常流行，欧洲其他地区，尤其是法国和苏格兰的佩斯利，随即涌现出了更廉价的仿制品。与高级时装一样，丝巾可以代表一个人的身份地位，在懂行的人眼中，限量版丝巾具有特殊的意义，而这种丝巾通常仅提供给最受青睐的客户。

    例如，作为对忠诚客户的谢礼，时装商店通常会在节日期间赠送丝巾。上世纪50年代，巴黎女装设计师们设计的丝巾尤其时髦，其中通常带有房屋的素描或犹如油画般的印花花纹。从上世纪50年代至70年代，著名的曼哈顿21餐厅每年生产一款丝巾，然后将其送给最受欢迎的“常客”。

    该餐厅老板特意聘请知名设计师亲自操刀，每年的丝巾设计都与餐厅的某些方面有关——如其著名的幕墙，餐厅外面的赛马骑师雕像，或者数字21等。

    女影星劳伦•白考尔是该餐厅一位受人尊敬的常客，她将自己收藏的21条丝巾全部捐给了纽约时装学院。最近，该学院展出了白考尔捐赠的其他藏品。

    相对于其他种类的服装，作为一款独立的配饰，丝巾还有一个独特的好处，那就是不受体型的限制。

    在上世纪40年代的伦敦，设计师丽达与齐卡•埃舍尔启动了“艺术家方巾”项目，邀请一大批国际知名艺术家设计大号丝巾，其中包括亨利•马蒂斯、让•科克托和亨利•摩尔。

    这种“艺术家方巾”在大型百货商店出售，同时与油画一样镶上边框，在伦敦勒菲弗尔画廊展出。

    1935年，为了庆祝新的服装设计沙龙成立，设计师艾尔莎•夏帕瑞丽将她的剪报设计成一副拼贴画，并将其印在布料上，制成纱巾和其他配饰，黑白纱巾随即风靡一时。

    When International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde goes to the G8 summit in June, she may well be wearing a scarf – a fashion accessory that she’s become known for, and one that’s been drawing more and more attention. In fact, the BBC recently identified scarves as a “new power symbol” for women.

    True, just as some men choose amusing neckties to enliven monochrome suits, many women who work in an atmosphere that requires conservative business apparel will wear scarves to add a fillip of color and distinction.

    But the trend is anything but “new.” In looking at the history of scarves in the 19th and 20th centuries, it’s clear that the allure and power of scarves has always existed – and persists. The scarf is the most simple form of adornment: a single piece of cloth. For this reason, it’s one of the most versatile clothing accessories, used for centuries across a variety of cultures, for a range of purposes.

    Many Muslim women wear headscarves for modesty, while ladies of a certain age favor scarves with a triangular fold to protect expensive or elaborate coifs. A scarf can be a political statement, and can denote a wearer’s affiliation or beliefs. Early 20th-century crusaders for women’s rights used their clothing to promote their cause, wearing scarves in the movement’s colors: white, green and purple.

    During World War II, scarves expressed nationalist sentiments. The British firm Jacqmar produced designs with propaganda-themed slogans. One featured the phrase “Shoulder to Shoulder” on a map of England emblazoned with British and American symbols. Another design mimicked a wall covered with posters urging citizens to “Lend to Defend” and “Save for Victory.”

    But in Western culture, the scarf is most prominently known for its use as a fashion accessory, one that first gained widespread popularity in the 19th century. The fichu is a typical 18th- and 19th-century style that can be seen as the forerunner of modern scarves. A piece of fabric worn lightly draped on the upper chest and usually knotted in front, it provided modest covering but was also an opportunity to add an especially fine textile – sometimes lace edged or embroidered – to an ensemble.

    Lightweight, finely woven silk and cashmere shawls from India were one of the first fashionable scarf styles. Empress Joséphine – the first wife of Napoleon – had an extensive collection (thanks to her husband’s travels), and the style persisted through much of the 19th century, spawning cheaper imitations fabricated in other parts of Europe, notably France and Paisley, Scotland. Like much of high fashion, scarves can signal one’s status, and limited edition scarves – often only made available to favored customers – can act as specific indicators for those in the know.

    For example, fashion houses send scarves, often during the holidays, as thank-yous to loyal clients. Those produced by Parisian couturiers during the 1950s were especially chic, often designed with sketches of the maison; others displayed printed patterns in the whimsical, painterly style of the era. And from the 1950s into the 1970s, the famed Manhattan eating and drinking establishment 21 produced a series of annual scarves and sent them to favorite “regulars.”

    The restaurant’s owners commissioned well-known designers, and each year’s scarf design referred to some aspect of the restaurant – its famous façade, the collection of jockey statues outside or the number 21.

    Actress Lauren Bacall, an esteemed regular, donated her 21 scarves to the Museum at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, where other pieces from her wardrobe were recently exhibited.

    As a discrete space, a scarf presents an opportunity for experimentation often not available in other realms of dress that are determined – and restricted – by the shape of the body.

    In London in the 1940s, Lida and Zika Ascher initiated their “Artist Squares” project, enlisting an international roster of prominent artists to design large scarves, a group that included Henri Matisse, Jean Cocteau and Henry Moore.

    The Artist Squares were sold in major department stores and also exhibited – framed, like paintings – at London’s Lefevre Gallery.

    To celebrate her new couture salon in 1935, the designer Elsa Schiaparelli made a collage of her press clippings and had it printed as fabric for scarves and other accessories, turning black and white type into a striking motif.